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S 0 R 
5. Sorex bicolor, or water shrew. The tail of this species 
is of the mean length; it is naked; the body is blackish, 
beneath it is cinereous; the toes are fringed.—It inhabits 
Europe and Siberia, uear swamps and rivers swims easily, 
often under water: the female has ten teats, and brings forth 
nine young at a time; it makes a noise like the chirp of a 
grasshopper; the body of the animal is four inches long, and 
the tail two. 
6. Sorex murinus, or murine shrew. The tail is of a 
middle length ; the body is brown, feet and tail cinereous.—It 
inhabits Java, and is the size of a mouse. 
7. Sorex araneus, or fetid shrew.—The tail of this species 
is of the middle length ; the body beneath is whitish.--It in¬ 
habits almost every part of Europe, and in the northern cli¬ 
mates of Asia; it lives in old walls, stables, yards, granaries, 
out-houses, swamps, and pools; it feeds on corn and insects; 
it smells of musk; is killed, but not eaten, by cats; the voice 
is shrill; it runs much slower than a mouse; brings five or 
six young ones in spring and summer; it is seldom so long 
as three inches. There are two varieties: 1. Head, and upper 
parts, dusky; sides brownish rusty.—This is found in Hud¬ 
son’s Bay and Labrador. 2. The upper parts are of a 
dusky grey, and underneath the animal is of a yellowish 
white. 
8. Sorex Surinamensis, or Surinam shrew.—The tail of this 
species is half as long as the body; the body above is chesnut, 
beneath white and yellowish grey.—It is found, as its specific 
name denotes, at Surinam. 
9. Sorex pusillus, or timid shrew.—Ears rounded ; tail 
short, a little friuged at the sides. It inhabits the northern 
parts of Persia, in holes which it burrows, it is three inches 
and a half long; the body is of a dark grey above, and the 
belly is paler. 
10. Sorex Brasiliensis.—The body of this species is brown, 
the back is black, with three stripes —It inhabits Brasil, is 
about five inches long, with a tail of two inches in length. 
11. Sorex ^xilis.—The tail of this is very thick in the 
middle, tapering to each end.—It inhabits Siberia; it is the 
smallest of quadrupeds, scarcely weighing half a drachm; it 
is like, though of a darker colour, the sorex araneus. 
12. Sorex caeruleus, or blue shrew.—The tail is of a mean 
length; the upper parts are of a pale blue; the belly is 
lighter; the legs and feet are white.—It inhabits Java, and 
the other East Indian islands, feeds on rice, smells strongly of 
musk, is eight inches long, with a tail about half that 
length. 
13. Sorex Mexicanus, or Mexican shrew.—The tail is short; 
the fore-feet are three-toed ; the hind-feet have four toes.—It 
is found in New Spain ; burrows in vast numbers, feeds on 
roots and seeds; the flesh is good; it is about nine inches 
long. 
14. Sorex albipes, or white-footed shrew.—Tail slender, 
hairy; upper parts dusky-ash ; feet, belly, and teeth, white. 
15. Sorex quadri-caudatus, or square-tailed shrew. The tail, 
as its specific name denotes, is squarish; the head and upper 
parts are of a dusky-ash; the belly is paler; the fore-teeth 
are brown. 
16. Sorex luri-caudatus, or carinate shrew.—The tail is 
taper, keeled underneath; head and upper paits dusky-ash, 
belly whitish; fore-teeth brown, a white spot behind each 
eye. 
17. Sorex unicolor.—The tail is compressed at the base; 
the body is of an uniform dusky ash.—It is observed by 
Gmelin, that the last four, described as distinct species, are 
probably only varieties of the sorex araneus.—They are all 
found near Strasburg. 
SOREZE, a town of France, department of the Tarn. 
Population 2700. It has a large provincial school, with 
about 500 pupils; 33 miles south of Albi. 
SOREZE, a town of France, department of the Tarn; 
14 miles south-west of Castres, with a public school. Po¬ 
pulation 2700. 
SORGHUM, a name of oriental or barbarous origin. See 
Holcus. 
SORGUES, a large river of France, in Provence, which 
issues from the well known Fontaine de Vaucluse, becomes 
navigable at 300 paces from its source, and falls into the 
Rhone near Avignon. 
SORGUES, a town of France, department of the Vaucluse, 
situated at the junction of the Sorgues and the Louveze. 
Population 1400; 6 miles north-east of Avignon. 
SORIA, a province in the interior of Spain, in Old 
Castile, lying to the west of Navarre and Arragon. Its area 
is 4300 square miles; its population about 200,000. It is 
hilly almost throughout, being intersected by the Sierras or 
chains called respectively Ministra, Moncayo, and Paredes. 
Even its plains are elevated, narrow, and by no means fertile, 
with the exception of a track along the Ebro, called Rioja. 
The climate is mild in the valleys, but bleak on the hills. 
The products are of considerable variety; but the elevation 
of the surface, together with the neglect of tillage, render the 
breeding of sheep the most profitable employment, and the 
sale of the wool and lambs the principal object of traffic. 
A good deal of wine and fruit is raised in this province, and 
a small quantity of hemp and flax. There are a few manu¬ 
factures of woollen, linen, paper, and leather, all confined 
to home consumption. The Ebro flows through the north¬ 
east comer, and the Douro has its source in this high dis¬ 
trict, in which it is joined by the Tajuna and Ucero. 
The other rivers of the province are the Jalon, the Cidacos, 
and the Alamo. It has several small lakes. 
SORIA, the chief town of the above district, is situated on 
the Douro, not far from its source. It contains 6000 inhabi¬ 
tants, has fifteen churches and chapels, eleven monasteries, 
and four hospitals. It has also a few manufactures of silk 
stockings, leather, soap, and woollens, with some trade in 
wool. It is, however, a dull and gloomy place. Near this 
was the site of the ancient Numantia; 110 miles north-east 
of Madrid, and 49 west-north-west of Calatayud. 
SORIANG, a river on the west coast of the island 
of Celebes, which runs into the sea. Lat. 3. 9. S. long. 
119. 48. E. 
SORIANO, a town of Naples, in Calabria Ultra, with 3600 
inhabitants; 6 miles east-south-east of Mileto. 
SORIASCO, a town of the Sardinian states, in the Milan¬ 
ese, with 1200 inhabitants. 
SORIGO, a small town of Austrian Italy, on the west 
bank of the lake of Como. 
SORI'TES, s. Properly an heap. An argu¬ 
ment where one proposition is accumulated on another.— 
Chrysippus the Stoick invented a kind of argument, consist¬ 
ing of more than three propositions, which is called sorites 
or a heap Dn/den .—More properly Sorites is defined a 
kind of argument, in which several middle terms are chosen 
to connect one another successively in several propositions, 
till the last proposition connects its predicate with the first 
subject. Whence Cicero calls it sgllogismus acei-vatus > 
an accumulative syllogism. 
Such was that merry argument of Themistocles, to prove, 
that his little son, under ten years old, governed the whole 
world. Thus: “My son governs his mother; his mother 
me; I the Athenians; the Athenians the Greeks; Greece 
commands Europe; Europe the whole world: therefore my 
son commands the whole world.” 
This method of disputing prevailed much among the 
Stoics; especially with Zeno and Chrysippus. 
SORLIN, St., a town of France, department of the Ain, 
near the Rhone. ■ Population 1000. 
SORN, a parish of Scotland, in Ayrshire, of nearly 
a square form, and about 6| miles long on each side. 
Population 3348. 
SORNAC, a town of France, department of the Cor- 
reze, near the river Diege. Population 1500 ; 36 miles 
north-east of Tulle. 
SORO, a river of Estremadura, which runs into the Tagus, 
near Salvaterra. 
SOROCEPHALUS, in Botany, so named by Mr. Brown, 
from trapo?, a heap, and the head, alluding to the 
aggregate, or crowded, heads of flowers. See Pkotea. 
SOROE, 
